Leia's Too Old for This Bantha Fodder
by BellaRosa2187
Summary: When she returns from a trip, Leia deals with revelations from some of her most valuable Resistance members. Oh, she also just caught her son, the fearsome Kylo Ren of the First Order, undercover on the Resistance base. When she confronts everyone together, their answers are certainly not what she expects.
1. Chapter 1

**_At the Resistance base on Chandrila, one year after the Battle of Crait:_**

Rose peered down the hole with a flashlight, examining the wire bundles. Once she identified a cracked wire, she looked for her partner, a man with platinum blond hair wearing an orange vest and glasses. She found him reading, again, and grabbed his book, "Matt, pay attention! I found what caused the comm shortage to command station five. You wait with the tools."

"Give that back to me," Matt snapped as he positioned himself near the toolbox, ready to hand the necessary tools to Rose when she requested them.

"Later," Rose answered, shoving the book down one of her pockets before crawling into the hole to begin the repairs.

Halfway through the repair process, an angry female voice resounded through the hall where the technicians were working, "Benjamin Chewbacca Solo!"

 _Leia's back from Coruscant already? And, Chewbacca's Kylo Ren's middle name..._ Rose observed with a grin. She would never let him live that name down.

"You kriffing idiot! You have some explaining to do right now! You take over the galaxy, and yet...," Leia shouted before her voice trailed off. Rose did her best to concentrate on the delicate wires as the general argued with her son, the First Order's Supreme Leader that was currently undercover on the Resistance. Their voices were too low for her to make out specific words, anyway.

After a while, Matt, rather, Kylo, suddenly retorted loudly, "You've had all these political positions, and you couldn't do your job as a mother when—." A smack interrupted him and prompted Rose to wrap up her current task.

Rose quickly wriggled out of the hole and spoke up, "Is everything okay?"

"Rose, go get Rey and bring her to my office now," Leia commanded as she grabbed Kylo's arm firmly and pushed him towards her office. Rose noticed Kylo's wig now on the floor, and she picked up the toolbox and wig before walking away to find Rey.

Once she brought Rey to Leia's office, Rose realized that she could hear the voices coming from the room rather clearly. She pressed her ear against the door to listen, attempting to find out exactly what caused the general's sudden outburst.

While she concentrated on the conversation, she saw Finn walking down the hallway towards her. His dark brown eyes brightened when he saw her, and he began to greet her with a smile, "Hey—"

"Shh, be quiet, I'm trying to hear what they're talking about," Rose immediately shushed Finn before she gasped in shock at something she heard.

"What's wrong?" Finn asked with concern, "You shouldn't be eavesdropping on the general..."

"Come here," Rose beckoned to Finn, and she whispered in his ear what she knew of the current situation between Leia, Kylo, and Rey.

"And Leia just found all this out?" Finn answered in a whisper with a bewildered expression taking over his face.

"Apparently so," Rose said simply as she stepped away from the door.

Finn shook his head in disbelief, "Whew... You know these cakes I baked this morning? Maybe if we offer them the rest, it'll lighten the mood a bit."

Rose immediately perked up at the suggestion, "That's a great idea! I'll come with you and get the plates and forks."

Once Rose and Finn returned to the office from the kitchen, Rose knocked on the door, speaking up, "General Organa?" After a few minutes, the couple received Leia's assent for them to enter the room.

Finn presented the tray of Corellian rum cakelets topped with vweilu nuts, "I just made these today. Rose loves them, but there's too much for the both of us. Would you like some?"

"These look wonderful, Finn. I would love to try one, thank you," Leia answered politely. As Rose prepared the plate for Leia, Finn couldn't help but notice that Leia wore a considerably frustrated expression. He also noticed that Rey's eyes were red from crying, and her arms were wrapped rather protectively around her stomach.

Once Rose handed Leia her plate, she offered one to Rey. Sniffling, she took the cakelet from Rose and gave her and Finn a small smile, "Thank you. This is nice of you."

In the chair to Rey's right, Kylo scowled as he looked at the floor and rested his head in his right hand. He didn't budge at all while the pair served the sweets to Leia and Rey. Finn considered the dark side user's behavior typical. However, Rose cautiously poked Kylo in the shoulder and asked, "Um... M- Kylo? Cake?"

Kylo finally looked up from the floor and responded gruffly, taking the plate from her, "Thank you, Rose."

Before Rose and Finn excused themselves from the office, Leia spoke up once she finished a bite.

"Finn, where did you learn how to make this?" Leia asked with suspicion. Upon hearing Leia's question, Kylo covered his mouth with his fist and swallowed his bite quickly.

"Um, one of the guys taught me..." Finn answered nervously.

Leia raised her eyebrow and calmly explained, "My adoptive mother, Breha, taught me how to make cakelets like this, and I used Corellian ingredients as replacements when I married Han. Only one other living person knows this exact recipe. You got this from Ben, didn't you?"

Finn stammered, "I- uh... Yes, Kylo taught me after he caught me trying to recruit stormtroopers..."

Leia carefully reworded Finn's response, "After he caught you trying to undermine his army, Ben taught you to cook a family recipe and released you alive..."

"That's correct, general," Finn affirmed, trying to remain silent about Kylo asking him for relationship advice concerning Rey in exchange for his security and freedom.

"I didn't realize Ben taught you how to cook...," Rose commented in bewilderment, "But that explains why your cooking got so much better in only a few months."

"You wouldn't let Finn in the kitchen, so someone else had to teach him," Rey responded matter-of-factly.

Rose exclaimed defensively, "He kept burning everything, Rey! It's too hard to teach both you and Finn at the same time!"

Leia interjected firmly, "All right, that's enough. There's certainly more to what you're telling me about your time in captivity six months ago, Finn. Sit down over there. I'll talk with you when I'm done speaking with these two." After handing the food tray to Rose, the former stormtrooper took a seat near Rey.

Rose began to walk out away and said, "Well, I better get back to repairing the wire for the comm in the command center..."

Leia immediately commanded, "Rose, you stay right here. You share a room with Rey, I know you're involved romantically with Finn, and you happened to stop complaining about my son's, _Matt's_ , incompetence a few days ago. I'm not letting you off the hook either."

Rose sighed and placed the tray on an empty side table near the door before she sat down in a spare chair. Just as Leia began to continue her conversation with Kylo and Rey, a knock on the door interrupted her.

"Seriously...," Leia groaned in exasperation before she called out, "Is this something that can wait? I'm busy right now."

Kaydel's voice came through the door, "It's urgent, General Organa. It involves Poe and General Hux from the First Order."

"Lieutenant Connix, if Poe blew something up again, I'll deal with him later," Leia insisted.

"No, it's not that," Kaydel said as she opened the door to reveal Snap holding onto Poe and Hux, who both bore handcuffs.

"General Organa, we caught Poe cuddling General Armitage Hux in the gazebo by the lake. Neither of them had their shirts on at the time. We have reason to believe these two are involved in a relationship that's a danger to the Resistance," Snap explained as he brought the bound pair into the room and seated them in the remaining chairs.

"No more dangerous than whatever Rey and Kylo have going on with each other," Poe scoffed in response to Snap's remarks, "Can you take these handcuffs off me now, please?"

Leia nodded at Snap to remove the handcuffs from Poe before she inquired, "Poe, I'll address your relations with Hux later, but you knew about my son and Rey?"

Poe responded, "I'll gladly explain what's going on with Hux. Still, I thought you already knew they had a force bond."

Leia nodded, "I knew that part, not the part where they got married a month ago without telling any of us."

"What?! Kylo, when the kriff were you going to tell us?" Hux exclaimed in shock. His response revealed to Leia that even the First Order was unaware of Rey and Ben's recent actions.

"I'm gone for one week, and everything's out of control..." Leia muttered as she rubbed her forehead.

The Resistance general took a deep breath and composed herself, "Now, before I ask each of you to tell your side of the story and answer my questions, is there anyone else in the Resistance that has friendships or... intimate relations within the First Order?"

Finn and Rose shrugged, while Poe pondered the question in his head. Rey and Kylo shook their heads.

Hux rolled his eyes and commented arrogantly, "If there were any other rebels that didn't arrive to my notice, I wouldn't be doing my job correctly. Who would blame them for coming to us, anyway? The First Order has the highest caliber of individuals."

Leia snapped, "Watch it. You were the one that ordered the destruction of the Hosnian System. I'm tempted to have you executed immediately. If you want to live longer than today or even think about getting out of this base alive, you'll behave."

"I see where Kylo gets it from...," Hux grumbled to himself before he responded to Leia, "Very well, then. I'll do as instructed while under your _temporary_ custody."

Leia brushed off Hux's snide attitude and addressed Kaydel, "Lieutenant Connix? Please request caf to be brought here... Oh, and water, too, for Rey... But otherwise, I do not want any more interruptions unless it's an emergency. We will be here for a while. Snap, thank you. You're dismissed."

"Yes, General Organa," Kaydel assented as she and Snap left the room.

Leia addressed everyone once the door was securely closed, "All right, I have reason to believe that each of you is aware of the behavior of the others in this room to some degree. I only just returned to Chandrila two hours ago, and I'm exhausted. No interrupting. Also, if any of you have weapons, please place them on my desk. Ben and Rey, don't think of trying anything with the force."

After everyone placed their blasters, lightsabers, and taser on Leia's desk, Rose looked around the room and asked, "Who should go first?"

"I'll start. It seems like Kylo and Rey had quite the talk with Leia before we all came in here," Finn volunteered, eliciting a grateful look from his oldest friend in the group.

...

 ** _Note:_** This is the first chapter of a 3-4 work series I have been planning for a while... Well, technically, this takes place after these stories, but it sets up the premise for the stories that will be posted over the upcoming months! The updates for this series will be slow over the summer, but I hope to post weekly after that!

As always, all feedback is appreciated and do feel free to point out if there are problems with characterization, etc.

For those following War and Tinder, I got a writer's block while writing the latest chapter but hopefully, it'll be updated next weekend!

May the Fourth be with you!

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or anything associated with it.


	2. Part Two, Chapter 1

**_Part Two, Cooking Lessons for Finn and Rey*: Chapter 1_**

 _*Or: Finn explaining the circumstances surrounding him learning the secret Organa cake recipe and helping Kylo Ren win back Rey._

...

 ** _Dantooine, around one month after the battle at Crait:_**

 _..._

For nearly a month, the Resistance members gathered on the Falcon hopped from planet to planet, from Sullust to Kashyyyk to Yavin 4, before settling on the abandoned rebel base on Dantooine. As the weeks passed by on the latest planet, the First Order seemed to have at least slowed down their pursuit of the rebels, if not stopped altogether. The lull gave the rebels a chance to finally settle and regroup their efforts.

The passage of time on Dantooine did not escape Rey's notice, and one afternoon, rather than attempting once again to comprehend the ancient Jedi texts, she sought out Finn. She found him sitting against a tree outside, reading a datapad. Rey called out to her friend, grabbing his attention, "Hey Finn! What are you doing?"

Finn looked up from his datapad and greeted back, "Hey Rey! Just reading up some reports that Leia forwarded along about the state of the First Order's stormtrooper program. What's up?"

Rey sat down on the ground next to him as she replied, "I see. Well, did you know this is the longest we've been in any one place since we met on Jakku? We've been on this planet for nearly two weeks as of today."

Finn furrowed his eyebrows as he considered Rey's words before responding, "Huh, you're right. It's definitely been very calm around here this week..."

Rey nodded, "Yes, so that gave me an idea... Everyone here's been so welcoming to us and working hard for weeks... As a thank you of sorts and for fun, why don't we cook dinner tonight and invite whoever wants to join us?"

"Sounds fun. I can finish reading this later," Finn answered as he shut off his datapad and headed towards the kitchen with Rey. Once the two of them reached the kitchen, they immediately took an inventory of the food in the cabinets and the fridge.

After a while, Rey selected a package of bantha meat and a variety of vegetables and fruits from the refrigerator. "I could probably stew this meat and put these in with it," Rey told Finn before she began looking for the pots and pans.

Finn didn't answer immediately as he was busy flipping through the pages of a well worn, stained cookbook he found in one of the cabinets. When Rey caught his attention again, he answered, "Okay, stew's always good. I was thinking, if we're going to make dinner, maybe dessert should be included?"

"Dessert? We've got fruit for that though," Rey responded.

Finn shook his head and clarified, "I mean more like cookies, cake, or brownies."

"I don't know what those are...," Rey frowned.

Finn looked at his friend in shock. He knew Rey's life on Jakku had been harsh but not so harsh that she didn't even know about the existence of the most delicious dishes to be found in the galaxy. He explained, "They're some of my favorite foods. I've got a lot to teach you about desserts. I'll make cookies if you work on the stew. What do you think?" Rey assented with a small smile, and the two of them set to work at preparing the meal in the kitchen.

...

Four hours later, after Finn and Rey finished cooking and set up a table outside, they went in separate directions to find and invite people to share their meal. Finn found Rose wrapping up repairs on one of the X-Wings. "Rey and I cooked dinner tonight! We've already set everything up outside," Finn said to Rose as he drew closer to her and stole a kiss from her.

"I'd love to try what you made. Give me a few minutes to clean up, okay?" Rose answered with a smile. When Rose finished washing the grease and dust off herself, she went to the picnic area with Finn and found Rey already seated at one of the tables with Poe, Jessika, and Kaydel.

Once Rose and Finn sat down at the table, Rey began piling servings of the stew into individual bowls and proudly explained, "I made the stew, and Finn made the cookies."

"Thank you Rey!" Kaydel said before she took a bite eagerly from her dish. However, she bit on a tough, undercooked vegetable and tried not to make a face as she began chewing slowly. She poked at the other vegetables and found them equally tough, opting to try the meat pieces before eating further. Thankfully, it turned out that Rey cooked the bantha properly, and she stuck to eating these specific pieces. She noticed Poe spitting out something into a napkin and asked, "Poe, are you okay?"

Poe answered Kaydel before addressing Rey, "I'm okay... Rey, did you put marble-berries in this?"

Rey nodded as she finished chewing her bite and remarked, "Yes, I put in whatever tasted good and still looked fresh." Jessika wrinkled her nose at her stew, and Rose immediately put down her spoon, no longer feeling like finishing the dish.

Poe struggled to come up with a tactful response to Rey's admission and finally said, "I see. Well... Can't go wrong with bantha. Finn, you made cookies? I'd love to try one before I get too full." The rest of the table clamored in agreement, and everyone quickly grabbed cookies for themselves.

Rose frowned as she chewed her cookie. The bottom was horribly burnt, and she noticed an eggshell sticking out of the bite she just took. She remarked, "Finn, sweetie, I love your effort but these are burned..."

"What ingredients did you put in here?" Kaydel asked as she put her cookie back on her plate, without the intention of finishing it.

"Chocolate and some spices that smelled good in the pantry," Finn answered nonchalantly.

"The combination's... interesting. Sweet and peppery..." Poe said slowly, still trying to remain tactful with his friends.

"Rose and Poe won't say it. The meat in the stew is good, but fruit does not belong in stew. The cookies are inedible," Jessika stated bluntly. She noticed Finn looking down at his plate dejectedly, Rey's eyes beginning to tear up, and glares from her other friends, making her immediately regret her harsh tone. Jessika sighed and spoke more gently, "Thank you for making dinner though, Rey and Finn. I'm just wondering, have either of you ever cooked before tonight?"

Finn shook his head as he replied, "We usually had rations or cafeteria food. Nothing fancy. This is the first time I've tried to cook anything from a recipe book."

"I just usually prepared portions. Luke and Chewie taught me to catch and roast meat and fish. Luke also showed me how to collect milk... That's it," Rey explained.

After a period of awkward silence, Rose spoke up, "Thank you for dinner tonight, but you two need cooking lessons. Tomorrow. Meet me in the kitchen. I'm teaching you both cooking basics."

...

The next morning, Rose set up the kitchen as she waited for her friends to arrive and put out the ingredients for a dish she found simple to prepare: pasta with tomato sauce. Once her friends arrived, she began the lesson, "Welcome to your first cooking lesson! So, I'm going to teach you both how to cook pasta and make a tomato sauce to go with it. First thing you do is..."

Rose first put the water on to boil and showed Rey and Finn how to properly measure out the pasta, as it would expand while it cooked. While waiting for the water to begin boiling, she explained the ingredients for the sauce and how they would work together. She showed them how to chop an onion and a tomato before encouraging them to try chopping some of the vegetables themselves. _So far, so good_ , Rose thought to herself.

After a few tomatoes, Rose heard Rey muttering random phrases here and there, but the sound of boiling water caught her attention first. Rose and Finn walked away from the counter to drop the pasta into the boiling water while Rey finished chopping her onion.

As Rose set the timer and explained cooking times, she heard Rey suddenly shout, "It's none of your business, that's what!"

"I didn't ask you anything! I'm just talking about how to time the pasta!" Rose exclaimed in disbelief, taken aback by Rey's outburst.

"Not you, Rose!" Rey answered before returning to her task, and her muttering became quiet again. Rose shook her head at the girl's peculiar behavior and walked back to the counter.

A few moments later, while they began measuring and loading chopped onions into a pan for sautéing, Rey shouted once again, "I'd rather kiss a Hutt! Be quiet and leave me alone!"

"Rose and I did nothing... Rey, are you all right today?" Finn commented, looking at Rey with deep concern in his eyes.

Rey flushed with embarrassment and sighed, "I wasn't talking to either of you, Finn. Ugh, just give me a few minutes, I'll be right back."

Shortly after Rey left the kitchen, Rose brought the pan with onions to the stove, drizzled on oil, and put the heat on medium, instructing Finn, "Okay, now just stir this until it turns clear. I'm going to measure out the herbs, spices, and tomatoes."

Finn obeyed readily and stirred as Rose instructed. However, he quickly grew weary of the constant stirring and raised the temperature to see if it would make the onions cook more quickly. Sure enough, they quickly browned in no time. Once he finished the onions, he brought them to Rose, who looked in shock at the pan, "Finn, these are way too overcooked! Just let me do it and I'll show you what they look like when ready."

Rose grabbed the spoon from Finn, put the pan with burnt onions in the sink, and put the extra chopped onions into a new pan. As she cooked the onions, Finn opted to begin setting the table and simply talk with Rose to pass the time. When the onions were finished, they noticed that Rey was still absent, prompting Rose to leave the kitchen to check on Rey.

However, once Rose left, Finn heard the timer for the pasta go off, prompting him to immediately turn off the stove. He remembered that the pasta needed to be removed from the water, but he couldn't find a strainer for the pasta. Eventually, he decided to grab the pot's lid and simply carefully pour out the water while using the lid to hold back the pasta.

That idea worked well, at least until Rey and Rose came back into the kitchen and startled him, causing him to spill the rest of the pasta all over the pan with the burnt onions in the sink.

"Just get out of the kitchen, Finn. Rey and I can handle this ourselves," Rose groaned at the sight of the ruined pasta.

Once Rey and Rose finished making the sauce and a new batch of pasta, Rose left the kitchen to find Finn arranging purple flowers inside an empty glass. She walked up behind him and hugged around his waist gently, "I'm sorry I got mad at you in the kitchen."

Finn turned around and hugged Rose back. Caressing one of her curls, he answered, "It's fine. I learned a couple tricks from you today, at least."

Rose nodded, "I'll admit you chopped up everything pretty well. And the table looks great. Thank you for all your help. Did you just pick these flowers? I've been seeing these pop outside lately..."

Finn grinned and offered the glass to her, "These are for you today, my darling Rose."

"Awww, you're so sweet!" Rose exclaimed as she accepted the flowers and gave Finn a kiss, unaware that Rey had noticed the exchange between the couple. After they ate dinner, which got compliments from all present at the table, Rey once again found herself distracted by an unwanted force connection with Ben and excused herself as soon as she finished her meal.

In her room, she explained to Ben how Finn and Rose communicated with each other and emphasized her conclusion, "... So, Rose apologized to Finn, and Finn got her some flowers from outside. That's what I'm talking about."

Ben leaned back against the wall and commented, "I already offered you the galaxy, Rey. Hundreds of planets full of flowers and you're still mad at me?"

Rey responded, "You still don't get it! I'm not talking with you anymore tonight. Good night!"

"It's daytime where I am," he smirked, eliciting an annoyed expression from Rey in response.

...

 ** _Note:_** Whoa, thanks to everyone for all the reviews, favs, and follows! I didn't expect such a reaction to this work so quickly! Thank you all for your patience with this update (and for those reading my other multi-chapter work, I've currently got a bit of a writer's block but it'll certainly be updated within the month).

I was originally going to make this a series of works, but it would be too difficult to make a summary for each one. So, hopefully this format makes sense? Feel free to leave feedback and have a great weekend! Hope you all enjoy this chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

Hello Readers,

Thank you all for following this story, and I hope y'all have enjoyed it! Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to complete my stories. I've given a couple of friends permission to continue if they wish/there's a demand for it.

Keep enjoying reading everyone's great works and hope we all get to see more of our favorite ships in IX!

May the Force Be With You!


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